How to Watch Austin’s New Year's Day Virtual Event

AUSTIN, TX — While this has been a year of challenges and heartbreak, it won't end in a whimper locally but with a musical, celebratory bang. Although this year's local New Year's celebration will be virtual and devoid of fireworks given an ongoing reach of the coronavirus, it will showcase quintessentially Austin music that has long fed our collective soul — perhaps more deeply this year than in previous times.

The traditional venue for the music-filled Austin's New Year wrap-up is the same: The Vic Mathias Auditorium Shores. Yet this year, it will be bereft of the celebrating throngs in favor of a pre-recorded version aiming to bring Austin flavor while still showcasing the city's rich musical legacy and enabling residents this year to enjoy the low-key spectacle from the safety and comfort of home.

Presented by the Austin Convention Center, the virtual concert will include eight local musical groups performing at five local venues, and appearances by Mayor Steve Adler, City Manager Spencer Cronk, and Chief Economic Recovery Officer Veronica Briseño.

The dynamic lineup for Austin’s New Year in 2020 will showcase top-notch performances from some of the city's brightest stars, including Gina Chavez, an Austin native and internationally acclaimed Latina pop artist — a 12-time Austin Music Award Winner named 2015 Musician of the Year and lauded in the 2019 Best Female Vocals category. Chavez also was nominated for a 2020 Latin Grammy for Best Pop/Rock Album.

Also performing is Parker McCollum, a Texas native, who earned his first No.1 hit on last week's Billboard Country Airplay Chart with, “Pretty Heart,” his debut single featured on McCollum’s EP, Hollywood Gold. “To have this song really and truly succeed on big time radio is a dream come true. And for it to happen during such an insanely crazy year makes it just that much more special,” McCollum observed.

The special features headliner and Austin native, Shakey Graves, who has risen to prominence among singer-songwriter circles in recent years. His latest EP, Look Alive, was released in 2020 and is available now. In Austin, Feb. 9 is officially “Shakey Graves Day” by mayoral proclamation.

Check out the full lineup at the city's Austin's New Year portal.

Viewers can participate in this virtual experience in multiple ways on Thursday, starting at 8 p.m. Set a calendar reminder to watch this one-hour special on any of these platforms:

Broadcast from KBVO on Thursday at 8 p.m.

• AT&T U-Verse: Channel 7.
• Grande Communications: Channel 18.
• Spectrum: Channel 7.
• Stream from local news and radio stations online at 8 p.m.

Stream from local news and radio stations online at 8 p.m.

• KXAN online.
• KVUE online.
• KLRU online.
• Austin American-Statesman online.
• ACL Radio online.
• 101X online.
• KUTX online.

Stream from City of Austin social media and ATXN on 12/31 at 8 p.m.

• ATXN YouTube Channel: Premier Link.
• City of Austin Facebook: facebook.com/austintexasgov.
• City of Austin Instagram IGTV: @austintexasgov.
• ATXN with closed captioning online.
• ATXN broadcast.

o Spectrum: Channel 6

o Grande Communications: Channel 6

o Google Fiber TV: Channel 6 (HD)

o AT&T U-Verse: Channel 99

More details on the musical line-up and venue partners can be found at the Austin's New Year portal.

The city thanks its sponsors, including the Austin Convention Center, Economic Development Department, and HEB while offering special thanks to event partners for photography, production and event management.

"Austin has a vibrant special event production workforce," city officials wrote in an advisory. Austin’s New Year virtual event supported local musicians, music venues and these local, woman-owned businesses:

About Blue Norther Live (BNL)

Blue Norther Live (BNL) is a full-service event production company based out of Austin, Texas. BNL was founded by Lindsey Sokol in 2019. An entertainment industry veteran, Sokol spent her first 11 years in the music and production industry as a Festival Director at C3 Presents. C3 Presents is responsible for producing events such as Austin City Limits Music Festival, Lollapalooza, the NFL Draft and countless others. BNL is dedicated to producing large-scale events from multi-stage festivals to political rallies. Since 2019, BNL has produced events including Beto For America - Presidential Launch, The United States Conference of Mayors 2021, Austin’s New Year 2019 and 2020, and Dreamland Festival 2021. For more information visit www.bluenortherlive.com.

About Lisa Hause Photography

Lisa Hause Photography is a seasoned studio with over 15 years of experience photographing corporate events, including the Electronic Arts, VISA and the Texas Public Policy Foundation, real estate, product and branding, live music, including SXSW for 8 consecutive years, and weddings. Hause is a native Austinite and award-winning photographer published in Austin Wedding Day, The Knot Magazine, Texas Weddings and her work is used to market local brands including Hotel Van Zandt. Hause is a contributor to the Austin fine art community and her gallery work can be found in both East and West Austin Studio Tours. For more information visit www.lisahause.com.

There's a line in Chavez's song, Bienamada — well-loved, roughly translated to English: "I have melodies to calm you/I have little tortillas to cheer you up/Each whisper opens a wall to love/We become a hundred sonnets."

The tortillas will have to be independently secured (perhaps from concert sponsor HEB). But the rest — sweet melodies helping to calm the restless soul, the musical whispers and the wordless poetry of unspoken feelings stirring deep within the listener in a year of contemplation — will be provided by the city's musical ambassadors amid a time unlike any other in recent memory. And, with hope, each musical bridge to each song will yield a hope-suffused pathway carrying us to a better year ahead.

We are in this together, readers. Happy New Year!